From LaBelle, Florida for Hendry and Glades County and the Lake Okeechobee region. Don Browne, editor.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Prayers To Save Life Of Zachary Reyna This Morning

Prayers To Conquer Brain-Eating Amoeba And Save Child's Life

LABELLE, FL. -- Hendry county, Florida faithful gathered August 14, 2013 at LaBelle's Veterans Memorial Park to send prayers for the family of 12-year old Zachary Reyna, the victim of a most often fatal disease cause by an organism that attacks the brain.

At an event planned by Susan Whidden, LaBelle pastors laid down their cowboy hats this morning for donations to the family and sent prayers to heaven to save the life of the LaBelle Middle School student who has been struck by the rare disease.

The LaBelle Middle School student has contracted an almost always fatal disease caused by the so-called "Brain-Eating Amoeba." Zachary was playing in a flooded ditch in early August near his LaBelle home when he apparently got some of the organism-infected water into his nose.

Early this week the Hendry-Glades Health Department confirmed the case of Naegleria fowleri, commonly called the "brain-eating amoeba" saying it appeared in Glades County, Florida, a rural county in Southwest Florida.

Naegleria fowleri infections are rare and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, say 31 infections were reported in the U.S. from 2003 to 2012. All were fatal. The infections occurred from exposure to contaminated recreational water.

Initial symptoms of the deadly infection in the brain usually start within 1 to 7 days after infection. The initial symptoms may include headache, fever, nausea, or vomiting. Other symptoms can include stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, seizures, and hallucinations. After the start of symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly.

Naegleria fowleri is found in many warm freshwater lakes, ponds and rivers in the United States, but mostly in southern-tier states. The low number of infections makes it difficult to know why a few people have been infected compared to the millions of other people that used the same or similar waters across the U.S.

Infections usually occur when it is hot for prolonged periods of time, which results in higher water temperatures and lower water levels. The peak season for this amoeba is July, August and September.
Zachary is in Miami's Childrens Hospital in the ICU unit in grave condition while this morning's gathering in LaBelle prayed for him and took up a collection to help the family. Local ministers and pastors led the group of about a hundred that showed up for the 7 a.m. service.